Welcome to Brighton Antifascists. We are an independent group, based in Brighton, that formed as a response to an increase in nationalist and fascist activity in our community. We are willing to confront any fascist/racist activities in our area, by encouraging mass direct action amongst other methods. We are not aligned with any political party, nor do we co-operate with any, we also don’t work with the police. The state cannot be relied upon to oppose fascism, and will tolerate or encourage fascist groups when it suits its purposes. We try to organise as a non-hierarchical group. We are part of the nationwide Antifascist Network, which works to encourage militant resistance to fascists and racists where ever they rear their unwelcome heads. If you have any information on fascist activity please email us at brightonantifascists@riseup.net

The Football Lads Alliance (FLA) march in London last Saturday, saw large crowds (estimated between 5,000 to 20,000) gathered to protest Islamic extremism. The stated aim, at least from the organisers, was to demand the arrest, internment and or deportation of 23,000 ‘extremists’ without trial.

When we heard a few days ago that Tony Thommes, the Front National candidate for French Expats in Northern Europe, was planning a meeting at the King and Queen pub in Brighton today, we knew he’d regret it.

The last few days have sometimes felt a bit like the end of the world, or at the very least, the beginning of a new era. Trump’s ascendancy seems to have sparked a new wave of repression and resistance, and the far-right across both the US and Europe is on the march.

Short answer: no.

A few days ago, Brighton and Hove News published this article. It’s an interview with Matthew Cook, one of the organisers of this year’s Kemp Town Carnival. In it, Mr Cook argues we should ignore the planned fascist march in Brighton, and leave it to the Police to deal with, whilst we all party it up at the carnival.

Since “just ignore them” is a fairly common message we get sent, we thought we’d look in a little bit of depth at why this is such a bad idea.

Considering how wildly popular our “Guide to Far Right Symbols” has proved, we decided the only proper thing to do is write another one, looking at some less common symbols, or ones used in other countries.

Many of these symbols relate specifically to fascist groups in other countries, so you’re unlikely to run into them in a Brighton back alley, but as many activists regularly travel abroad (and our last article got hits from all over the world), we thought it’d be good to broaden our scope a bit.

Today is the International Day of Solidarity with Antifascist Prisoners, called for by New York City Antifa. Their callout states:

Antifascists fight against those who—in the government or in the streets—dream of imposing their fascist and other Far Right nationalist nightmares on the rest of us. Throughout the world, Islamophobic, anti-Semitic, anti-immigrant, and racist bigotries are on the rise. Antifas are on the frontline in confronting these reactionary politics, and we will not forget our comrades imprisoned in the course of this struggle.

The AFN is one of the groups supporting this callout, alongside antifascists from as far afield as Finland, Sweden, Australia and the US (full list of supporting groups below).

As part of the Antifascist Network, Brighton Antifascists have enhusiastically taken up the call for solidarity actions.

Today self-publicist Eddie Stampton’s attempt to intimidate the Jewish community of Golder’s Green degenerated into an at-times painfully hilarious farce. Around two dozen hardcore neo-nazis (half of them Polish immigrants) where marched into a pen, inside a cage, inside another pen, opposite Downing Street, to attempt to “de-jewify” Britain.

In what looked depressingly like an episode of American History X-Factor, each of the boneheads took a turn on the mic, trying to wow an increasingly hostile antifascist crowd with renditions of such classics as “It was the Jews what done it” and “You’re all agents of ZOG”. Particularly of note was White Supremacist Piers Mellor’s rousing chorus of “Hordes from the East”, delivered with all the rhetorical flair of depressed Dalek. A special shout-out should go to Kevin Layzell, but we think it would be unfair to make him cry twice in one day.

Open Mic Night at the Munich Beer Hall.

Farce became pantomime when the batteries in Eddie’s microphone ran flat, rendering the rest of the speeches inaudible. Ever heard of Duracell Eddie? Or are they a Zionist plot?

Finally reduced to taunting the assembled antifascists with a pork pie, the fascists were marched off under heavy manners into Westminster tube. A Nuremburg rally. it was not, which begs why he mainstream media found it all so interesting. In the end, it was more Benny Hill than Leni Riefenstahl.